Lying in the mud

Our internet provider is being annoying. They’ve changed our plan without telling us and now want to charge us for excess usage instead of shaping. If I wasn’t so busy I would have sorted it by now. Because we’re over our limit for the month we can only use the internet during off-peak, which they’ve reduced as well – now it’s only midnight until seven in the morning.


I have solved the wet pole holes in the orchard, lying in the mud, reaching down with a little yoghurt container and bucketing it out and then using crusher dust and rocks to compact until I am out of the mud and can use earth again. The poles are solid, three metres high and don’t move. Just in case I am staying them as well and I’m almost finished that now.


In the evening, exhausted, I walk back down the hill and spend an hour working in the garden. For sanity and to feel like other things are still moving along. This week I’ve planted corn, prepared the root crop bed and mowed the lawn.


I am reading a book about a couple that moves to the country in response to Peak Oil and it is a timely reminder of why we work so hard. It is not a question of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’. With such far reaching implications I would rather be overly cautious and have acted early, as opposed to ignoring the problem and waiting until things get really tough. And suppose, just for arguments sake that Peak Oil won’t be a problem (technology will come up with a solution; new reserves will be found; transition to natural gas, etc), then I haven’t lost anything as I am living exactly the life I dream of and wouldn’t wish for anything different.